Famous June Birthdays a to z

Intrigued by burrs that stuck to his clothing, in 1956, Swiss engineer George de Mestral invented the popular fastener now known as Velcro®.

Marquis de Sade was a French aristocrat and philosopher who became notorious for acts of sexual cruelty in his writings as well as in his own life.

Jack Dempsey -- known as the "Manassa Mauler" -- was the world heavyweight boxing champion from 1919-1926.

Johnny Depp is an award-nominated actor known for his portrayal of odd-ball characters including Captain Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean.

André Derain was a French painter of the Fauvist school and a book illustrator. He was friends with Henri Matisse.

I.A.L. Diamond was a Romanian-born American screenwriter who worked extensively with director Bill Wilder.

John Dillinger was an infamous gangster and bank robber during the Great Depression, and was know as "Jackrabbit" and "Public Enemy No. 1."

Actor Peter Dinklage has earned raves for his work in the 2003 film The Station Agent and on the hit television series Game of Thrones.

The music of British singer-songwriter Nick Drake wasn't a hit during his lifetime, but his albums Fruit Tree and Pink Moon have gained fans over the years.

Charles Drew was an African-American surgeon who pioneered methods of storing blood plasma for transfusion and organized the first large-scale blood bank in the U.S.

Jean Dujardin is a French actor and comedian. He is the first French actor to win an Oscar for Best Actor, for his performance in the 2011 film The Artist.

Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, is best known as the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, the father of Prince Charles and the grandfather of Prince William.

African-American author Paul Laurence Dunbar is best known for his verse and short stories, many of which are written in black dialect.

Shirin Ebadi is an Iranian lawyer and human-rights activist. She was the first female judge in Iran, and won the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize.

Roger Ebert is an American film critic best known as one half of the popular Siskel and Ebert film critic television show.

Australian actor, producer, writer and director Joel Edgerton played Will McGill in the soap opera The Secret Life of Us, and Tom Buchanan in The Great Gatsby.

King Edward I reigned England from 1272 to 1307, during which time he conquered Wales, expelled the Jews and signed many parliamentary statutes.

Edward VIII became king of the United Kingdom following the death of his father, George V, but ruled for less than a year. He abdicated the throne in order to marry his lover, Wallis Simpson, thereafter taking the title Duke of Windsor.

John Edwards served in the U.S. Senate from 1998 to 2004. He was the Democratic vice-presidential nominee in the 2004 election, and twice ran for president.

Personality development, in Erik H. Erikson's view, occurs through a series of identity crises that occur in stages that must be overcome and internalized.

Dianne Feinstein is a United States senator from California and a former mayor of San Francisco.

Alexandra Feodorovna was consort of the Russian Czar Nicholas II. Her rule precipitated the collapse of Russia's imperial government. She was murdered, along with her entire family, in 1918.

Retired magician Siegfried Fischbacher was one-half of the performing duo Siegfried and Roy.

Lester Flatt was best known for his bluegrass guitar stylings as part of the Foggy Mountain Boys and Flatt and Scruggs.

Mick Foley is a professional wrestler with WWE, Inc. who wrestles under the names Cactus Jack, Dude Love, and Mankind. He wrote a best-selling autobiography.

Ken Follett is the author of numerous best-selling books, including Eye of the Needle, On Wings of Eagles and Whiteout.

Serial killer Roy Fontaine, originally Archibald Hall, killed a former lover, his employers, an accomplice and another man in England in the 1970s.

Nominated to replace Earl Warren as chief justice in 1968, Abe Fortas became the first nominee for that post since 1795 to fail to win Senate approval.

Actor Michael J. Fox first achieved stardom as Alex P. Keaton on the popular sitcom Family Ties and went on to have great success with other film and TV roles.

Anne Frank is a Jewish girl that had to go into hiding during World War II. She is best known for the diary that she kept, which continues to touch people today.

Respected actor Morgan Freeman has appeared in such films as Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption, Million Dollar Baby, Unforgiven and Batman Begins.

Grammy Award-winning saxophonist Kenny G rose to fame in the mid-1980s with his signature smooth jazz sound. He is the most successful instrumental musician of all time.

Federico García Lorca is considered one of Spain's greatest poets and dramatists. One of his most successful poetry collections was The Gypsy Ballads.

Actress and singer Judy Garland was the star of many classic musical films, and was known for her tremendous talent and troubled life.

Erroll Garner was a virtuosic and popular jazz pianist known for creating one of the best-selling albums in jazz, Concert by the Sea (1958).

Antoni Gaudí was a Barcelona-based Spanish architect whose free-flowing works were greatly influenced by nature.

French artist Paul Gauguin's bold colors, exaggerated body proportions and stark contrasts helped him achieve broad success in the late 19th century.

Hall of Fame first baseman Lou Gehrig played for the New York Yankees in the 1920s and 1930s, setting the mark for consecutive games played. He died of ALS in 1941.

Born in 1865, George V served as king of the United Kingdom from 1910 to 1936, during World War I. He was succeeded by his son, George VI, following his death.

Bernice Gera became the first female umpire of a baseball game in 1972, but later resigned, reportedly because other umpires refused to work with her.

Geronimo was a Bedonkohe Apache leader of the Chiricahua Apache, who led his people's defense of their homeland against the military might of the United States.

Ricky Gervais is a British comedian best known for co-writing and co-directing the television series The Office.

Paul Giamatti is an actor known for roles in such diverse films as Private Parts, Sideways and Rock of Ages.

Organized crime boss, Sam Giancana climbed to the top of Chicago's underworld and became a player on the national stage through shadowy ties to the Kennedys.

Gabrielle Giffords was an Arizona congresswoman. She made headlines when she became the victim of an assassination attempt, from which she later recovered.

With his "Contract with America," former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich established his position as the head of the anti-Clinton Republican wave in 1994.

Allen Ginsberg is one of the 20th century's most influential poets, regarded as a founding father of the Beat Movement and known for works like "Howl."

The poems of Nikki Giovanni helped to define the African American voice of the 1960s, '70s and beyond. She was also a major force in the Black Arts movement.

Martin Gore is best known as the keyboardist and primary songwriter for Depeche Mode. Gore wrote many hit tracks, including "Policy of Truth" and "Personal Jesus."

Steffi Graf is an internationally renowned pro tennis player who ranked up scores of championship titles in the 1980s and '90s.

Fred Grandy played Gopher on the 1970s television show The Love Boat. He was also an Iowa congressman and the president and CEO of Goodwill Industries.

British film and theater actor Rupert Graves starred in the period films A Room with a View and Maurice, and the plays The Iceman Cometh and Closer.

Actor, playwright and screenwriter Spalding Gray wrote and performed his own roles in Monster in a Box and Gray’s Anatomy; both became feature films.

Actor and comedian David Alan Grier is an accomplished Broadway and film actor who rose to fame as a cast member of the TV sketch-comedy show In Living Color.

Andy Griffith is an actor and singer best known for his 1960s starring role in The Andy Griffith Show. He later returned to TV in the drama Matlock.

Che Guevara was a Marxist revolutionary allied with Fidel Castro who went on to become an iconic cultural hero.

American folk singer Arlo Guthrie is the son of renowned folk pioneer Woody Guthrie. Arlo's songbook includes the beloved "Alice's Restaurant Massacree."

Roman Catholic priest Gustav Gutiérrez is one of the most prominent figures in Latin American Catholicism and is considered the father of liberation theology.

Nathan Hale graduated from Yale University in 1773, joined the American Revolution and was hanged by the British for espionage in 1776.

Director Lasse Hallström directed a number of music videos for ABBA before moving to television and film. His best-known movies include My Life as a Dog, What's Eating Gilbert Grape and The Cider House Rules.

Marvin Hamlisch composed more than 40 motion picture scores throughout his career, including 1973's "The Way We Were" and 1975's "A Chorus Line." He is also known for his musical adaptation for 1973's The Sting, and work on such films as Sophie's Choice and Ordinary People.

Thomas Hardy was an English novelist and poet who set his work--including The Return of the Native and Far from the Madding Crowd--in the semi-fictionalized county of Wessex.

Actor Neil Patrick Harris starred in TV sitcom Doogie Howser, M.D., and performed on stage in Rent and Cabaret.

Walter Haut is best known for drafting a 1947 press release for the U.S. Army that claimed a "flying disc" had landed in Roswell, New Mexico.

Film actress Susan Hayward earned an Academy Award nomination as Best Actress for her role in Smash-Up, and later won for her performance in I Want to Live.

Lillian Hellman was a playwright and screenwriter whose dramas attacked injustice, exploitation and selfishness.

Henry VIII, king of England, was famously married six times and played a critical role in the English Reformation, turning his country into a Protestant nation.

Escaped slave and minister Josiah Henson became involved in the Underground Railroad, leading slaves to freedom and developed his own Afro-Canadian community.

Bernard Herrmann was an American composer best known as the author of scores for Orson Welles and Alfred Hitchcock films including Citizen Kane and Psycho.

Henry Hill was a member of the Lucchese crime family who became a federal informant, inspiring the Martin Scorsese movie Goodfellas.

British artist Damien Hirst has shocked and surprised the art world with his unusual works, including glass displays of dead animals and medicine cabinet sculptures.

Hedda Hopper, a woman with amazing hats, was an American gossip columnists during the first half of the 1900s. She was also an actress and radio personality.

Actress and singer Lena Horne was one of the most popular performers of her time, known for films such as The Wiz and her trademark song, "Stormy Weather."